Football: More strife for Spurs

FURTHER allegations of transfer- market malpractice have been made against Tottenham Hotspur. The White Hart Lane club face a Football Association inquiry on 14 June into accusations of breaches of FA rules, and they could face relegation if found guilty of most of the 46 charges they are defending.

The club were reported to have breached regulations in 1986 when they signed Mitchell Thomas from Luton. Yesterday there were further reports that two other deals - the signings of Paul Allen from West Ham and Chris Fairclough from Nottingham Forest - will be under investigation by the FA.

Thomas was alleged to have received a pounds 25,000 loan from Tottenham a month before he joined the club. Allen, now with Southampton, is reported to have been given a pounds 55,000 ex-gratia payment by Spurs in June 1985, a month before a tribunal fixed the pounds 425,000 fee for his move from West Ham. Fairclough cost Spurs pounds 387,500 in 1987, the fee being fixed by a tribunal. It is alleged that he was loaned pounds 25,000 by the club before the deal was fixed.

Allen and Thomas are currently co-operating with the inquiry. Swindon Town were demoted in 1990 after being found guilty of financial irregularities. If found guilty, Spurs could face the same punishment.

Manchester United have signed the 18-year-old striker, Graeme Tomlinson, from Bradford City on a four-year contract. The fee is likely to be decided by an independent tribunal.